Learn & Serve Texas

Learn and Serve Texas Grant Comes to An End

As a result of the elimination of federal funding for the Learn and Serve America program in April 2011, the Learn and Serve Texas program is ending.  Having begun in Texas in 1992, the Learn and Serve program involved over 1 million students in schools and communities across the state in meaningful service and thoughtful learning. Despite the remarkable success of this program, and the ever increasing body of research that supports service-learning, Learn and Serve America did not have the right champions in Congress or in the White House to sustain the program in an era of growing federal deficits.

We are grateful that we were able to secure a no-cost extension for remaining grant funds through August 31, 2012, which is enabling us to invest in capacity-building activities that we hope will support service-learning in the years to come.  We were also able to offer some short-term grants to the following subgrantees through June 30, 2012:

• Eden ISD 
• Friona ISD
• Holland ISD
• Humble ISD
• Region 10 ESC
• Round Rock ISD
• Sulphur Springs ISD

These sites were selected on the basis of carefully designed review criteria that included appropriate and nearly complete expenditure of 2010-2011 grant funds and having met previous grant reporting requirements and performance measures. 

These subgrantees will continue to use the LEADERS model of service-learning and the K-12 Standards of High Quality Service-Learning to:

• Develop and maintain community partnerships that provide opportunities for student service-learning activities and student civic and academic engagement;
• Engage young people in service-learning activities that directly address community needs in order to build healthier communities;
• Increase civic and academic engagement of participating students;
• Support high-quality service-learning for K-12 schools, particularly those with large numbers of youth in disadvantaged circumstances, as a strategy to improve retention and graduation through increased civic and academic engagement;
• Increase the number and percentage of teachers who use service-learning to meet educational goals;
• Engage young people in service-learning activities related to the Martin Luther King, Jr., national Day of Service (www.mlkday.gov) on the third Monday in January; and
• Sustain and institutionalize service-learning in participating districts through administrative leadership, supportive policies and practices, and integration with other educational programs and school reform initiatives.

Operated on a three-year cycle (2009-2012) through the Learn and Serve America program of the Corporation for National and Community Service, Learn and Serve Texas is managed by Service Learning Texas, a statewide initiative of Region 14 Education Service Center and the Texas Education Agency. 

During this grant cycle, over 125,000 students on 260 campuses in 41 districts were engaged in a variety of service-learning projects designed to meet local needs.  In addition, the grant recruited 22,537 volunteers for environmental service-learning projects, which helped 44,060 individuals increase their environmental stewardship of Texas land and water resources in targeted communities with assistance from 564 community partners.

Pevious subgrantees for the three-year grant cycle included:

• Alpine ISD
• Amarillo ISD
• American YouthWorks Charter School
• Austin ISD
• Canutillo ISD
• Childress ISD
• Colorado ISD
• Coppell ISD
• Eden ISD
• Friona ISD
• Georgetown ISD
• Hallettsville ISD
• Harlingen ISD
• Haskell ISD
• Hitchcock ISD
• Holland ISD
• Humble ISD
• Irving ISD
• Katherine Ann Porter School
• Luling ISD
• Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD
• Region 10 ESC
• Region 14 ESC
• Round Rock ISD
• Schleicher County ISD
• Seguin ISD
• Shallowater ISD
• Sulphur Springs ISD
• Vidor ISD

Region 10 ESC subgrantees include:

• Community ISD
• Lancaster ISD
• Leonard ISD
• Melissa ISD
• Savoy ISD
• Trenton ISD
• Wylie ISD

Region 14 ESC subgrantees include:

• Albany ISD
• Cisco ISD
• Colorado ISD
• Haskell ISD
• Hawley ISD
• Sweetwater ISD
• Trent ISD
• Wylie ISD (Abilene)